For The Presenter: The following slides are designed to help you and your group view and discuss Pope Francis’s Encyclical letter, “Laudato Si: On Care for Our Common Home”, with any interested participants. There are no copyrights involved and you may feel free to add or substitute slides of your own for illustration. I would suggest however, that if you do make changes , you make them on a copy and preserve the original.

To allow time for discussion, you may wish to view the power point in sections over several meetings. A blank slide is inserted at likely stopping points. You may also wish invite additional questions during this time.

The entire Encyclical can be downloaded for free at the website (below) or purchased for approx. $10 at major book stores. Most editions also include a study guide. I thank you for sharing Pope Francis’s important message. Connie Mitchell

To access text: https://w2.vatican,va/content Click “encyclicals”

Click “Laudato Si’”

Laudato Si’On Caring For Our Common

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Responding to the Pope’s Call to Action:An interfaith introduction and dialogue

The Canticle of the Creatures

All praise be yours, my Lord, through Brother Fire, through whom you brighten up the night. How beautiful is he, how gay! Full of power and strength.

All praise be yours my Lord through Sister Earth, our mother, Who feeds us in her sovereignty and produces various fruits with colored flowers and herbs.

All praise be yours, my Lord, through those who grant pardon for love of you, through those who endure sickness and trial. Happy those who endure in peace. By you, Most High, they will be crowned. All praise be yours, My Lord.

All praise be yours, my Lord, through all that you have made, And first my lord, Brother Sun, Who brings the day and light you give to us through him. How beautiful he is, how radiant in all his splendor! Of you, Most High, he bears likeness.

All praise be yours, my Lord, through Brothers Wind and Air, And fair and stormy, all the weather’s moods, by which you cherish all that you have made.

All praise be yours, my Lord, through Sister Water, so useful, lowly, precious and pure.

Canticle

What is an encyclical?

An “encyclical “ is a teaching document of the Holy Father to the entire church and, in this case, the entire world. Para.#13, Laudato Si’

Why does it matter?

By his sending it, this encyclical has become an official part of the Social Teaching of the Catholic Church.* (Para.#15)

*The long history of Church teaching on this includes:Rerum Novarum , Of New Things, 1890, (Industrial Revolution)Quadragesimo Anno, 40 Years Later, 1931, (on behalf of workers)Gaudiam et Spes, Joy and Hope, 1964, (Catholic Social Teaching)American Bishops Pastoral letter, Economic Justice for All, 1984

Pope Francis speaks to the USA as viewed at St. Eugene Church by an interfaith audience

About the Encyclical FormatTable of Contents

⬜1. What is happening to our common home - Paragraph #1-61⬜2. The Gospel of Creation - Paragraph #62-100⬜3. The Human Roots of the Ecological Crisis

Paragraph #101-136⬜4. Integral Ecology – Paragraph - #137-162⬜5. Lines of Approach & Action Paragraph

#163-201⬜6. Ecological Education & Spirituality Paragraph

#202-246

Ten Take-aways from the Encyclical

Note:Paragraph References are to Laudato Si’

(Text compiled from USCCB parish bulletin handout, and “America”magazine, James

Martin, S.J. “10 Take-aways…”)Photos: cmitchell Unless noted*

1. A Moral and Spiritual Challenge

The ecological crisis is a summons to profound interior conversion to renew our relationships with God, with one another, and with the created world.

Ecological Stations of the Cross - 2017

*photo by bill maloney

God created the world and entrusted it to us as gift with the responsibility to care for and protect it and all people, and foster human dignity.

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From the encyclical##

⬜Para. 76: ”Creation can only be understood as a gift, illuminated by the love which calls us together into universal communion.”

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Seashore

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Water power- Niagara Falls

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Plants & Insects

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Hoodoos of Bryce Canyon

Magnificent Earth

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From the encyclical##

Para. 83: “The ultimate purpose of other creatures is not to be found in us. Rather, all creatures are moving forward with us and through us towards a common point of arrival, which is God.”

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Question##

Why is the traditional under standing of humanity’s “dominion over the earth“ an incorrect interpretation?

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Question##

How does our “throwaway” culture contribute to feelings of hope-lessness in the face of our environmental problems?

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2. Care for God’s CreationWe were told to “till and keep the Garden”. Now we have the re-sponsibility to care for and protect it, to use its resources conscientiously, and to restore what we damage.

Water

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Land

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Air

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Threatened Plants - Milkweed

PlanPts

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Threatened Wildlife and Habitat

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Threatened Marine Life and Birds

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From the encyclicalPara. 91: “… deep communion with the rest of nature cannot be real if …we lack tenderness, com-passion and concern for our fellow human beings and creatures.”

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3. We Are All Connected

We are connected to the rest of the human family, to the created world, and to those who will come after us in future generations.

Human to Animal

Photo from youtube

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One to another

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Christian, Muslim, Jew & Other

Students at Bethlehem University3

Tourists enjoying the view Sedona, New Mexico

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Pilgrims at the synagogue, Cepharnum, Israel

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From the encyclical

Para. 89: “ God has joined us so closely to the world around us that we can feel the desertification of the soil almost as a physical ail- ment and the extinction of species as a painful disfigurement.”

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From lush Western North Carolina…

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Gratuitous Beauty!

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Preying Mantis – Nature’s pesticide

…to the dry deserts of western USA

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Anzo Borrego Desert

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Desert Dwellers

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16th century church – Pecos, New Mexico

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Question

“Ecology also involves protecting the cultural treasures of humanity in the broadest sense.” What links do you see between protecting ecology and cultural treasures?

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In modern understanding, what are the basic human needs? What is Integral Ecology?

4. Impact on the Poor

People who live in poverty have contributed least to climate change, yet they are disproportionate- ly impacted by it.

As a result of excessive and wasteful use of natural resources by wealthy nations, those who are poor experience pollution, lack of access to clean water, hunger, and more.

###From the encyclical

Para. 122: Practical Relativism is that which drives one person to take advantage of another. The absence of objective truths other than the satisfaction of our own desires and immediate needs is what leads to what we have called our throwaway culture, be it human or materials, if it no longer serves our interests, discard it.”

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Affordable Housing??

Downtown Asheville, NC

Family home in West Asheville

Basement Homeless man’s basement shelter

Trailer homes in North Asheville

Kirabati, an island village, threatened by rising sea levels

Photo by Kennedy Warne for National Geographic

Question

How does “relativism”, which sees everything as irrelevant unless it serves one’s own immediate interests” lie at the heart of our environmental issues?

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In modern understanding, what are the basic human needs? What is Integral Ecology?

5. Called to Solidarity

⬜ As one human family with shared responsibility for each other and creation, wealthy countries have a responsibility to reduce consumption of non-renewable resources and to help poorer nations to develop in sustainable ways.

Syrian refugee family aided by Catholic Relief Services

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St. Eugene Parish Community Meeting

5Eviction of 9 families from small mobile home park in 2015

Underwate U Underwater mining in the Phillipines

Photo: 2014, Mark Z. Saludes for Human Rights Watch5

River polluted by mercury from mining

Photo: 2014, Mark Z. Saludes for Human Rights Watcha5

6. Technology and Economic Development

⬜ These must serve human beings and enhance human dignity instead of creating an economy of exclusion.

⬜ All people must have access to what is needed for authentic human development.

Modern Atlanta- At what cost?#111. There needs to be a distinctive way of looking at things, a way of thinking, policies, an educational program, a lifestyle and a spirituality which together generate resistance to the assault of the technocratic paradigm. Otherwise, even the best ecological initiatives can find themselves caught up in the same globalized logic. To seek only a technical remedy to each environmental problem which comes up is to separate what is in reality interconnected and to mask the true and deepest problems of the global system.

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From the encyclicalPara. 105: “contemporary man has not been trained to use power well, because our immense technologic development has not been accompanied by equal development in human responsibility, values and conscience.”

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West Virginia – Mountaintop Removal

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From the encyclical

Para. 51: Inequity affects not only individuals but entire countries; it compels us to consider an

ethics of international relations. A true “ecological debt” exists, particularly between the global north and south, connected to commercial imbalances

with effects on the environment, and the disproportionate use of natural resources by certain countries over long periods of time.

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Question

⬜Francis speaks of the “technocratic paradigm.” Discuss the shift of humans and human action in the world? Self-interest? Immediate need? Violence?

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Question

In what ways must technological solutions to environmental issues need to respect the rights of people and cultures. Why is the loss of human culture as serious as the extinction of plants and animals?

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From the encyclical

Para. 144: There is a need to respect the rights of people and cultures and to appreciate that the development of a social group presupposes a historical process which takes place within a cultural context…. demands the constant and

active involvement of local people from within their proper culture…. Quality of life must be understood within the world of symbols and customs proper to

each human group.

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The Wall –Beaumont St., Asheville Our Cultural Heritage

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First Nation Creation Story- UBC Anthropology Museum-Vancouver, BC

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David’s Citadel on Mt. Zion – Jerusalem Excavations of seven different Cultures

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From the encyclical

Para. 126 personal growth and sanctification can be seen in the interplay of recollection and work…We need to remember that men and women have the capacity to improve their lot, to further their moral growth, and to develop their spiritual endowments.

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From the encyclicalPara. 128: “Work is a necessity, part of the meaning of life on this earth, a path to growth, human development and personal fulfillment.”…..The loss of jobs has a negative impact….through the progressive erosion of social capital: the network of relationships, of trust, dependability, and respect for rules all of which are indispensable for any form of civil coexistence.

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The Dignity of Labor

Painting by Diego Rivera

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United effort Historic preservation Jobs Craftsmen

WNC School for the Deaf- Morganton, NC – built 1896

From the encyclical

Para. 157: the common good calls for social peace, the stability and security provided by a certain order which cannot be achieved without a particular concern for distributive justice…

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Walls that exclude and divideEast Jerusalem … or

Technology that includes and unites For resiliance and sustainability

Jerusalem – solar and water collectors on every roof

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7. Supporting Life, Protecting Creation

⬜ Concern for nature and the environment is incompatible with failing to protect the vulnerable among us; children, people with disabilities, the aged, victims of human trafficking.

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Deep Creek in the Smokies

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Choices count! Gourds - Sow True Seeds

Avoid Herbicides, Pesticides, GMO foods

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One last question

What is the Real value of goods vs. the market value? ⬜How do we make our decisions?⬜ On the cost? ⬜Durability? ⬜By-products of manufacturing? Useful? Safe?⬜To the landfill?⬜Is there a “human cost”?

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8. Time to Act

⬜ Pope Francis calls for a change in lifestyle and consumption, an Ecological Conversion..

⬜ We can make important changes as individuals, families, and communities.

Speak OutMoral Monday – Raleigh, NC

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The Smokies from Max Patch

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Protect

Respect Ancient Olive Tree – Garden of Olives

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RememberDead Sea Scrolls Museum

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9. Hope and Joy

Pope Francis reminds us, “Injustice is not invincible.”

He invites us to act knowing that we seek to live out God’s vision of renewed relationships with God, ourselves, one another, and creation.

Climate March – St. Dominic Church-Opening Mass-Washington, DC Apr.29,2017

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Climate March-April 29,20179

Climate March – April,2017

Mountain Moral Monday

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Bar Mitzvah in Jerusalem

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And simple pleasures 9

From the encyclical

⬜Para 14: ”We need a conversation that includes everyone…….

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10. Change the World!

⬜Be more aware of your connectedness, renew those relationships; feed the birds; talk with people from different cultures; take a hike !

⬜Make changes: re-use, recycle, reduce waste, conserve energy, water. Cook only as much as you will eat. Share rides, walk, bike, or bus.

Be more aware…

Summer Sunset Sunset

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All creatures great and small

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⬜Support local efforts to solve environmental problems. Learn what is going on. Be involved!

Local Interfaith group - Creation Care Alliancewnc(www.creationcarealliance.org)Eastern regional Catholic Committee of

Appalachia (ccappal.org)National Catholic Climate Covenant

(info@catholicclimatecovenant.org)National and LocalAudubon Society

(audubon.org)National and Local Sierra Club

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⬜Contact your member of Congress. Share Pope Francis’s message . Urge action to address climate change. Make the connections for them!

Richard Burr 202-224-3154Thom Tillis 202-224-6342Patrick Mc Henry 202-225-2576Mark Meadows 202-225-6401

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From the encyclical

⬜Para. 177: Political and institutional frameworks do not exist simply to avoid bad practice, but also to promote best practice, to stimulate creativity in seeking new solutions and to encourage individual or group initiatives.

⬜Para. 178: True statecraft is manifest when, in difficult times, we uphold high principles and think of the long term common good.

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⬜Start a group to read and discuss the encyclical together at home, in your neighborhood, school, or church.

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Pray for peace. Teach your children to pray for peace.

⬜Praise be to you, my Lord, through our Sister, Mother Earth, who sustains and governs us, and who produces various fruit with colored flowers and herbs.*

⬜*Para. 1, Laudato Si’

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Only to do what is just, to love what is good, and to walk humbly with your God

Micah 6:8

⬜Copies of Laudato Si’ are available for around $10 per copy or online for free.

⬜This power point is available on request by email. Contact www.creationcarealliance.org